Study: U.S. Government Spends More On Antibiotics For Children Than U.K.

The U.S. government should seriously look into the cost of medicine, particularly on antibiotics administered to children.

A study released in the online journal Pharmacotherapy revealed that out of the 160,000 children who were prescribed at least one drug in 2009, 75 percent of U.S. kids and 50 percent of U.K. youngsters were given antibiotics. For that year alone, private insurance companies in the U.S. spent more than $2.4 million, while those in the U.K. shelled out below $480,000.

As published in HealthDay, researchers found that two of the reasons behind this were as follows: more expensive antibiotics, and longer length of time that U.S. patients are taking the drugs.

Lead researcher Dr. Hershel Jick said that the pediatric antibiotics are generally more expensive in the U.S. compared to their counterparts in England. This comparison was based on three earlier studies that looked into the costs. As a result, the researchers recommend that the U.S. government consider this as a major issue especially since antibiotics are included in the provisions of the health care reform law (or more popularly known as Obamacare).

The United Kingdom is already spending on its citizens’ medicinal needs through the government’s health care plan. In the U.S., the health care act is still a hot — and sensitive — topic in debates.